Cross

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records, and ○ marks a model's transliteration; click a spelling to open its page.

Attested across 5 languages in the etymology graph.

Names that people choosing a name often weigh against Cross, most often first. They share a style rather than an origin.

• Hunt
• Red
• Brown
• Day
• Black

From the names suggested together in public name-advice forums, in English. A list of what people consider, not a measure of how common any name is.

Cross is also recorded as 4 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Italian surname23 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Italy, United Kingdom, Panama, Portugal

  Languages: Italian, Portuguese, Spanish

  Also written Cröss, Ċröss, Crôss, Črõss, Crošš

• a separate name3 spellings in the group

  Also written Croß, Crõss

• Hindi surname34 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in India, Sri Lanka, United States, Bangladesh

  Languages: Hindi, Sinhala, Bangla

  Also written Cruse, Kurush, ক্রুশ, Kroos, ক্রশ

• Russian surname20 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Russia, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States

  Languages: Russian, Ukrainian, Polish

  Also written Кросс, Крос, Kross, Kros, Cros

61 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Cross is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, ‘dweller by the cross’; first attested Richard del Crosse 1285 AssLa (Lancashire)

  as a name·A Dictionary of English Surnames

• In Irish, This English locative name is sometimes used as a synonym of MacCrossan

  as a name·The Surnames of Ireland

• In Basque, proscribed spelling of kros (“cross country”)

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In English, A geometrical figure consisting of two straight lines or bars intersecting each other such that at least one of them is bisected by the other.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Swedish, a ball hit more or less diagonally across the playing field

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

• George Eliotb. 1819GBnot in their usual nameEnglish novelist, essayist, poet and journalist (1819–1880)
• Marcia Crossb. 1962USAmerican actress
• David MacMillanb. 1968GBnot in their usual nameBritish chemist (1968-)

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

42 registers and reference works attest this spelling, across 25 countries.

Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.

What does the name Cross mean, and where does it come from?

(i) Person who lived by a roadside or market cross or at a crossroads; (ii) a different form of Crosby (ii). Recorded by Encyclopedia of surnames [the complete companion to tracing your names history].

Which countries have the most people with the surname Cross?

In the United States, the national register counted about 78 thousand people named Cross, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled cross. After it come United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Ireland; the country table on this page ranks them.

How common is the name Cross?

In the United States, the national register counted 77,557 people named Cross in 2010, about 1 in 4.3 thousand residents.